Mystery and thriller author.
Former intelligence officer.
"A thrilling series" - National Public Radio
DETECTIVE EMILIA CRUZ SERIES
Emilia Cruz is the first female police detective in Acapulco, fighting drug cartels, official corruption and Mexican machismo.
2019, 2020 Outstanding Series award, CrimeMasters of America
2019 Silver Falchion Award, Killer Nashville
CLIFF DIVER | HAT DANCE | DIABLO NIGHTS
KING PESO | PACIFIC REAPER | 43 MISSING
RUSSIAN MOJITO | NARCO NOIR | MADE IN ACAPULCO
CLIFF DIVER | HAT DANCE | DIABLO NIGHTS
KING PESO | PACIFIC REAPER | 43 MISSING
RUSSIAN MOJITO | NARCO NOIR | MADE IN ACAPULCO
"As riveting as Amato’s previous novels set in Mexico. The Roaring Twenties in their uninhibited violence and excitement come alive." - Michael Hogan, author of Women of the Irish Rising
GALLIANO CLUB SERIES
Lido, NY. 1926. At the height of Prohibition, an Italian immigrant and a trigger-happy Chicago bootlegger battle for control of the Galliano Club, where trouble is always on tap.
Based on tales told by my late grandfather, a Deputy Sheriff of Oneida County, NY in the 1920's.
2023 Silver Falchion Award, Killer Nashville
ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB
MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
REVENGE AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
"A rivetingly dramatic tale of politics and corruption . . . Enthralling." - Literary Fiction Review
Standalone thrillers
Expect complex plots, unforgettable characters and relationships with heat.
THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY
Longlisted for the 2020 Millennium Book Award
"Page-turning paranormal romance" - Kirkus Reviews
#LATEST
Winning an Award, Losing My Mother
Murder at the Galliano Club, the first novel in the Galliano Club historical fiction thriller series won the Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical at the 2023 Killer Nashville International Writer's Conference. I’m still shell-shocked. The Galliano Club series wasn't supposed to be a major project. Just something to keep my mother Jean entertained as we endured lockdowns in 2019 and 2020. My mother had just moved into a lovely, assisted living facility in upstate New York...
A Different Point of View
She Said, He Said A CLIFF DIVER scene from Franco Silvio’s Point of View The Detective Emilia Cruz series is written from Emilia's point of view as the first female police detective in Acapulco. She's got some tricky geography to navigate in that position. Not only has Acapulco become Mexico's deadliest city for those tracking homicide statistics, due to rival cartels fighting over routes north into the US and port facilities for incoming shipments of fentanyl ingredients for China, but the...
Book Review: THE TWYFORD CODE by Janice Hallett
At first, I was skeptical of a book made entirely of audio transcripts. No, let me back up. At first, I assumed that the audio transcripts were a clever introduction and then the rest of the book would be standard fiction prose. But in fact, The Twyford Code is entirely made up of fictional audio transcripts. And it is fabulous. Basically, it is a mystery within a mystery within a mystery. There may be more. I’ve lost count. Most of the transcripts, supposedly given by law enforcement to a...
Once upon a time, a young woman from New York who liked reading, acting in plays and traveling to new places joined the Central Intelligence Agency.
She went to many interesting places and did many interesting things and met quirky people who deserve to be characters in books.
Eventually, her head was crammed so full of information about cartels, corruption, and social inequality that she had to write a political thriller before it burst. “But no one wants a book like yours,” the publishing insider told her. “They want the next Sex and the City.”
“Huh.” The woman shrugged off the advice. After all, she’d already survived three earthquakes, a train derailment and a scuba diving encounter with a lionfish. She wrote more thrillers about the first female police detective in Acapulco and bootleggers during Prohibition and supernatural suspense and created a book journal for fellow mystery lovers. She gave away a Starter Library.
Her books won awards. Reviewers said nice things.
Now, her Mystery Ahead newsletter is read by people all over the globe.
She is immensely grateful to readers like you.
